Gas turbine engines include a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for mixing the compressed air with a fuel and igniting the mixture, and a turbine across which the resultant combustion products are expanded. As a result of the combustion, temperatures within the turbine engine gas path connecting each of the sections are extremely high. With some components the extreme temperatures require active cooling systems to keep the components exposed to the gaspath (referred to as gaspath components) below a maximum temperature and prevent damage to the component.
In some exemplary gaspath components, such as rotors and blades, among others, the active cooling takes the form of a film cooling process. In film cooling, a series of holes eject a stream of coolant, such as air, along a surface of the gaspath component being cooled. The stream of coolant simultaneously cools the exterior surface and provides a buffer zone to prevent at least a portion of the high temperature gasses in the gaspath from contacting the gaspath component. Film cooling can be utilized in conjunction with other active cooling systems, or on its own to cool a gaspath component depending on the needs of the gaspath component.